Palin: Talk of Default 'Obama Drama'

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin says President Barack Obama’s threat to veto House Speaker John Boehner’s debt-ceiling plan and the president’s talk of default is “Obama drama.” Palin also told Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren Tuesday that America will not default on its debts.

“Well, I think this is more Obama drama that’s being created,” Palin said. “First this August 2nd deadline that he’s insisting that America must act on, incurring more debt, raising that debt ceiling, otherwise, we will default — well, we will not default.

“And this August 2nd deadline is looming, but it’s not Armageddon — it’s not life or death. So Boehner and the Republicans have got to make sure that they have a good plan in front of those who will be voting on this plan,” she said. “Otherwise, more of this Obama drama is going to continue and we’re going to be continuing down this path of bankruptcy. And the American public — we’re sick and tired of it — we’re tired of the games. We’re tired of the deals that are made in Washington, when all we want is a solution.”

Van Susteren asked Palin with talk that Social Security checks won’t be mailed how do you not scare older Americans and convince them it’s not “life or death.”

“Well, scaring the American people is exactly what President Obama is doing. And that bizarre speech that he gave last night — it reminded me of when he insisted that TARP had to be passed, that you know, it was life or death at that time also,” Palin said. “We had to increase spending in the federal government or people would be starving on the streets. And I mean, then look at what TARP resulted in.

“The president’s getting pretty good at this fear-mongering and trying to cram down the public’s throat this idea of bigger government, more spending — not necessarily having a plan on what the spending will be on or how we will be able to live within our means with the growing spending that he wants to see,” she said.

“But he’s getting pretty good at this fear-mongering, and that’s why the American public and our congressmen and women have got to take a step back and be reasonable and be rational,” Palin said. “And we need to insist that our president present to us — the leader of the free world, the leader of our nation — present to us a plan in how he is going to address the looming problem of bankruptcy, which is down the line if we don’t get a handle on our overspend.”

Van Susteren asked with Obama’s veto threat of Boehner’s plan — and the Congressional Budget Office saying Tuesday the numbers don’t add up — what is Boehner’s next step.

“Well, he’s got a problem internally because he didn’t have to go try to reinvent any wheel here. And I do respect Speaker Boehner's efforts in trying to negotiate with Jell-O — as he characterizes trying to negotiate with President Obama,” Palin said. “But the internal problem that he has is reinventing the wheel here in the 11th hour when we already had Cut, Cap, and Balance that passed the House.

“And we don’t need to retreat now and wave a white flag and say, ‘Oh, because the Senate is saying that they won't allow a vote on Cut, Cap, and Balance, well, now we have to go out there and think up another plan.’ No, we didn’t have to do that,” Palin said. “The Cut, Cap, and Balance plan is the right plan because, evidently, there are enough members of Congress who are insisting that the debt ceiling will be raised — I don’t want to see it raised, but they're saying it will be raised. So if it's going to be raised, we better get something out of it.”

Palin said what conservatives want in return for raising the debt ceiling — also central to the Cut, Cap, and Balance legislation — is serious spending cuts and reducing big government’s “overreach,” something Obama doesn’t understand.

“He doesn’t understand that we have a spending problem in this country — and you know, back in the day, we used to hear that, ‘Hey, it’s the economy stupid.’ Well, now, simply put — it’s the spending, stupid,” she said. “What’s going on now with our bloated, overreaching, fat, nauseating spending from [the] federal government, taking more state and individual control from Americans and trying to do it all on a federal level, which is creating this bankrupt situation that we're facing now.

“It’s immoral. It’s unethical. It doesn’t make any sense economically — or as I say, morally — because we’re handing these bills to our children and our grandchildren.”